Skip Navigation

Hawk-Headed Handle

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

Votive animal mummies were associated with the king of the realm of the dead, Osiris, while his son, the hawk-headed Horus, was his successor on earth.

Osiris became the prototype for proper death because he was the first to be mummified and achieved eternal life in the next world. Thus all mummies of humans and animals imitated the mummification process and form followed to reanimate Osiris in the next world.
MEDIUM Wood, garnet (?), gold, pigment
DATES ca. 1938–1759 B.C.E.
DYNASTY Dynasty 12
PERIOD Middle Kingdom
DIMENSIONS 3 11/16 x 1 5/8 x 1 1/4 in. (9.3 x 4.2 x 3.1 cm)  (show scale)
ACCESSION NUMBER 14.660
CREDIT LINE Museum Collection Fund
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Hawk-Headed Handle, ca. 1938–1759 B.C.E. Wood, garnet (?), gold, pigment, 3 11/16 x 1 5/8 x 1 1/4 in. (9.3 x 4.2 x 3.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 14.660. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.14.660_view1.jpg)
IMAGE overall, CUR.14.660_view1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2010
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.
 <em>Hawk-Headed Handle</em>, ca. 1938–1759 B.C.E. Wood, garnet (?), gold, pigment, 3 11/16 x 1 5/8 x 1 1/4 in. (9.3 x 4.2 x 3.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 14.660. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.14.660_view1.jpg)